One Year to Give: Airlie Beach

It's been nice to sit still for a few days.

The Big 4 Whitsunday Adventure Park is certainly well setup for families with the few added extras like: jumping pillow, mini golf, a tennis court, lagoon pool with slides and outdoor movies.

There were a few draw backs though:

the weather not being quite warm enough for a lot of swimming
the park being a fair way from the beach/nice scenery for walking etc
midgies - we are all very itchy! (and have spent a fortune trying to get the best thing for keeping them away and soothing any bites)
the kids witnessing two arrests in one day!! One was a group of three guys who had evidently got a bit 'free' with their waistbands and "dropped their dacks" (not in front of the kids, thank goodness!) but the police caught up with them, and the other was a very nasty scene at about 4 o'clock in the morning at the caravan park, when we were woken by a lot of shouting and swearing, and a guy a few sites away from us 'lost the plot'. This unfortunately ended with the police being called, him being "capsicum" sprayed and arrested in front of his kids and wife. They were all really distressed and it was an awful thing to witness, even from some distance away!

Shute Harbour, Airlie Beach

So I must say, for us, Airlie Beach is not all it's cracked up to be! The scenery is beautiful tho', but what a shame that the beaches are not "swimmable", unless you have a stinger suit, for a lot of the year. (Our southern beaches are so much more 'approachable')! Great here if you're wanting to fish, sail, dive etc, not so good if you want to swim, surf and actually be 'in' the water. The Council have done a great job establishing a public swimming lagoon at the foreshore, which is constantly surrounded by 18 - 25 year olds from all over the world (British and German back packers far out weigh anyone else, and there are hardly any Asians). Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one in a one piece "cossie", I counted, ummm... 2 others!